Jail for drunken email threats to MPs
An Upper Riccarton man has been jailed for 11 months for his drunken emails threatening to kill members of Parliament.
“Threats to persons who hold public office must be taken seriously,” said Christchurch District Court Judge Gary MacAskill. He said people seeking election must not be put off by the possibility of threats.
Steven Shane Lawrence, 50, said he was very drunk when he emailed the death threats, and he never had the intention or the means of carrying out his threats.
Lawrence’s threats included putting heads on pikes, or having throats cut, pumping one man “full of bullets”, and telling a woman that she would burn eternally in hell and other people would spread her entrails in the streets.
Lawrence was appearing for sentence after admitting four charges of threatening to kill three MPs, who have suppression of their names.
Judge Gary MacAskill said Lawrence used on-line forms to send messages to the members of Parliament, using his own email address. One message contained the translated words, “I am a terrorist.” He told one woman that she was on his “hit-list”.
The judge said Lawrence tried to portray himself as a radical Muslim with a propensity for extreme violence. He noted the severe impact on the victims, creating higher levels of anxiety and fear.
He noted Lawrence had previous convictions for threatening behaviour and assault. He was an alcoholic who lived in lonely circumstances in a one-bedroom council flat. He had bipolar disorder, and depression and an anxiety disorder for which he was on medication.
The judge imposed the 11-month jail term and ruled out any switch to home detention. At the request of the police he suppressed the names of the victims, but said the media could report that they were MPs.
Defence counsel Lee Lee Heah said there had been no premeditation in the series of threatening emails which had been sent over about seven days in January. Lawrence had used his own email address.
Miss Heah said the messages were political in nature but Lawrence accepted that they were “dressed in very violent language”.
The victims had said they feared for their families after receiving the emails, but the messages had made no threats to the families. Lawrence was sorry for the threats and simply did not realise at the time the impact the messages would have on the victims.
Probation had not recommended home detention for Lawrence because it would simply increase his isolation.
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